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How to explain a suicide

University of Cardiff, UK

This polemic explores a newspaper article about youth justice. It suggests that a dominant discourse holds a powerful hegemony over large parts of the British media through which young people generally, and those in trouble with the law, in particular, are demonized. When events take place which threaten to disrupt that discourse, strenuous journalistic efforts have to be made to counteract that disruption and to reaffirm established understandings, however flawed those understandings might be. This article anatomizes that process in operation and in relation to a particular event – the suicide, in 2004, of Adam Rickwood, the youngest child ever to take his own life while in the care and custody of the modern British penal system.

Key Words: crime • scandal • suicide • youth

References

• Bovens, M., P. ‘t Hart, S. Dekker, G. Verheuvel and E. de Vries (1998) ‘The Mass Media and Policy Disasters’, in P. Gray and P. ‘t Hart (eds) Public Policy Disasters in Western Europe, pp. 39–58. London: Routledge .
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• Daily Mail (1998) ‘The Making of a Newspaper Legend’, 11 June.
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• Sunday Mirror(2004) ‘How the Hell Was My Boy Allowed to Hang Himself?’, 15 August.

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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Drakeford, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?